Hardcore Teabagger Tapped To Run Budget Office

Rep. Mick Mulvaney has been picked as director of the Office of Management and Budget for President-elect Donald Trump, the transition team confirmed Saturday morning. One of the founding members of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, the South Carolina Republican is a fierce fiscal conservative. An aide to the transition team indicated Mulvaney would be tapped Friday night.

Unlike some Republicans, he has pushed to slash spending on both domestic and defense programs since he was elected to the House in 2010 — in contrast with Trump, who has called for boosting the Pentagon’s budget and building up the military. If chosen to lead OMB, Mulvaney will play a crucial role in shaping Trump’s early agenda, including through drafting the president’s first budget.

“We are going to do great things for the American people with Mick Mulvaney leading the Office of Management and Budget,” Trump said in a statement. “Right now we are nearly $20 trillion in debt, but Mick is a very high-energy leader with deep convictions for how to responsibly manage our nation’s finances and save our country from drowning in red ink.

“With Mick at the head of OMB, my administration is going to make smart choices about America’s budget, bring new accountability to our federal government, and renew the American taxpayer’s trust in how their money is spent,” he added. A founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, which pushed House Speaker John A. Boehner out of power in 2015, Mulvaney is an advocate of a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.